Stained
by AquaroseNamine
Summary: He was stained, until she came along to make him clean. One-Shot. Roxas & Naminé.


People in this life leave marks.

On each other, certain places, in one another's minds. When you do something it may remind you of something else, and you'll find yourself thinking about it again every time you do it. This is like an imprint: something faded and left behind until it is nothing short of a distant memory.

Most of these forgotten imprints burrow themselves deep in the soul, so as to never be forgotten. Some, however, seem too far gone, and float out of the memory, never to be retrieved again. Never to be remembered, not even to be forgotten.

Because they're already gone.

Still others stay with you forever, even if you want to get rid of them. It's like some sort of stain- 'imprinted' as it were- on your mind. And no matter how many tries, you just can't seem to get it off. Sometimes it's for the best, even if you don't know it. But... sometimes it's not.

When you get marked you can feel it. Whatever imprinted you flows steadily throughout your body, even if it's only for a fleeting instant before fading. But you can feel it everywhere. When someone or something marks you forever- or perhaps not quite that long- you always feel it heavy on your soul. If they are things you do not want it becomes a burden. They transform into heavy, pressurized weights on your back that you are always forced to feel. When you sleep, walk, sit... draw.

When they're good marks they can act as a sort of fuel. They keep you going and burning bright even in the darkest of places, and even when all hope is given up. They make you light. They _give_ you... light.

Roxas had been imprinted. Many times by many places and even more people. He was so heavy it almost made him light.

Almost.

He carried a burden that his good marks couldn't cover. He was stained. He had been imprinted so many times it was hard to distinguish anything anymore.

There were certain marks that had all but floated away. A light blue swash, for example, made lighter with time and forgetfulness.

This mark represented Sora.

Where some people might be searching what is lost, Roxas would be losing what to search. He didn't know where to look anymore. Inside him, it was too colorful to see anything. Too stained. Outside of him, too many things would be going on and too many things would be going  
wrong. So much as to make him retreat back inside himself.

But either way...Sora was still slipping from his mind.

It didn't seem fair. He wanted to be a mark. He wanted to have an imprint so he could leave it on someone. He didn't care what it was like. He just didn't want to be forgotten.

And so another mark is placed. This one silver. A quick but sure brush of silver. Riku.

You don't talk much when you're fighting someone. However from what Roxas could tell of Riku, he cared about his friends...

Even if he didn't know the right way to show it.

Riku had left larger, more prominent marks on others, even though he was shrouded in his own self-loathing and darkness. But just the fact that Riku had enough life in him to mark others had been enough to mark Roxas. And so Riku would always be in his mind.

No matter how many times Roxas tried to get him out.

A brush of the hand was probably all it took for Xion to be on Roxas forever. Just the thought of her made Roxas want to find out more, like he was hungry to uncover the mystery of her.

However... Xion had proved to be less than cooperative with that.

She intrigued him and as much as he might not be willing to admit it, he cared about her. At least... he had.

Because in the end she had faded away anyway. Her deep black mark had begun to fade a murky grey, and now to a lightish blue. So much that it was becoming near to impossible to tell her and Sora's apart.

Axel had of course left a mark. His was huge; colossal, even. Red, of course, now that we're classifying it into colors. It was like someone took a paintbrush and a huge vat of crimson paint, then thrown the brush away and dumped the whole can on Roxas' heart.

It was messy, but it was there.

And although Roxas may forget from time to time, Axel is always the one who reminds him that it's there. No matter what fades or is lost, no matter how many new imprints are splattered onto his pallet of relationships.

In fact the only thing _Axel _was worried about was his mark fading to pink.

So he stayed next to Roxas to be forever in his mind, forever in his heart. He stayed because they were friends. He stayed because he cared. Even when Roxas forgot. Even when Roxas' mark all but faded from Axel's heart.

He still stayed.

And there is no forgetting some other smaller but very significant marks.

Kairi, for instance, had been mistakenly and slowly etched onto him. That day when Roxas had talked to her through his mind -yes, it sounded ridiculous- Kairi had been imprinted on him forever. It was a fleeting pink, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it.

Another he cannot forget is the mark of his friends. Or, the mark of those strangers he had grown to know and love as his friends. And even though it never happened, he felt like that summer had. And so Hayner left a bright yellow mark- like the burning brightening sun. And Pence a deep and emerald green- like the endless grasses of the forests.

Even Ollete had given Roxas one. A bright streak of orange- like Twilight Town's fading beautiful sunset.

Roxas would always remember his friends, even if they didn't remember him.

Demyx had even made a mark, believe it or not. It was tiny, mind you, but undoubtedly there. A clear aqua line had been drawn, breaking off at the ends. Roxas rarely remembered he had that mark.

Some other marks were much less friendly. Saïx had left an unforgettable mark as well as the others, but his seemed to stand out, even among Axel's red blob.

A crisp, orderly cerulean was now taking the place of the previous white from before. It was put there from the picture Roxas had been given in his mind.

And now it was there to stay.

There are other marks that require much less explanation. Larxene had a terribly hideous yellow swish, and Xigbar a deep purple. Even from Sora's memories he received marks. Tidus, Mickey, Goofy, Selphie, Wakka, Donald. He didn't want them- they were not his. But they wouldn't go away.

He himself even had a mark, imprinted on himself. A deep azure blue that was now slipping away with everyone else's. It had almost turned a light blue- like Sora's, and Xion's. But soon it would be gone.

He was losing himself...

_Until he met her._

It might take awhile for an imprint to be clearly stamped on yourself. Like Axel and Xion. Sora, because Roxas was too lost to figure his out.

Naminé's took no time at all. From the very second Roxas looked at her her mark was on him, never to be removed.

Not that he wanted to anyway.

He always thought she was different. Different than the others. She was quiet and defenseless, but independent and brave. She needed protecting, and Roxas would never let her come to harm. You could probably say that Roxas made a bigger mark on Naminé, which in turn made a mark on him. Naminé meant something special to him, even if she was just a nobody.

He was a nobody, too.

And her mark was on his heart. He could feel it: distinguish it from the others. It was different. It was light and beautiful, flowy and graceful. He cherished it with everything he had.

But he was still stained.

All of the colors, all the overlying hues. All the tones and shades of his life were still there, and dragging him down. It was almost unbearable.

So Naminé painted him.

Naminé's mark was unlike anything Roxas had ever felt. It wasn't a brisk swish of the wrist, creating a single messy line over his heart. Instead it felt like more of a wash.

And she made him clean. Naminé had taken his heart, his stained, broken heart, and painted it white. Painted it clean.

So he could start over.

And then he was pure. And the first new mark he put on himself...

was hers.

* * *

Uh..haha. I should be working on try again right now but I got a little distracted.

Someone yell at me to go finish it.


End file.
